Real estate brokers and managers have long claimed location reigns supreme when it comes to property value and activity. But underlying that notion is a quantifiable measure that any retail or office listing would be amiss without: the traffic count.
According to data collected by the city of Springfield, nine out of the 10 busiest intersections in the Queen City are on the south side. From the well-traveled corridors around Bass Pro Shops, Plaza Towers and James River Commons, commercial real estate in Springfield is routinely shaped by the number of passersby any given day.
Taking the crown as the city’s busiest intersection is Sunshine Street and Glenstone Avenue, with 64,434 average daily weekday vehicles. In fact, four of the top five busiest intersections run along Sunshine, dotted with such traffic magnets as Bass Pro and Mercy Hospital Springfield.
As a result, retail and office property values peak on the south side. According to commercial market tracker Xceligent Inc., triple-net leases in southeast Springfield averaged a leading $11.64 per square foot in the third quarter, compared to other city districts in the $8-a-square-foot range. The office picture skews slightly to center city, where average asking lease rates are $15.82 per square foot, triple net, followed by the southeast quadrant’s $13.38 a foot and the southwest’s $10.80 a foot.
Commercial broker Galen Pellham of Murney Associates Realtors said lease rates historically have followed the traffic. He cited a roughly $10 lease rate at Shadowood Plaza retail center on South Campbell Avenue five years ago when the Sam’s Club site was under development. Then an outdated property, Shadowood has been renovated as new businesses sprung up around it, and the center garners $17 per square foot, according to listings on LoopNet.com.
Traffic, and visibility, makes all the difference, Pellham said.
“If you look at the locations where Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy are building, they’re at the prime intersections,” Pellham said, pointing to new construction at Republic Road and National and existing sites at Battlefield and Campbell. “Those big-box users all want to be where there is heavy traffic.”
Location mattersCurtis Jared, CEO of commercial property manager Jared Enterprises Inc., said retail clients, in particular, want to see hard numbers.
In managing over 100 commercial properties in and around Springfield, he said national clients often ask about what he calls “the five fives.”
“You do a five-mile radius; you look for 50,000-plus traffic count; you look for 50,000-plus population; you look for a $50,000-plus median income; and 50,000 rooftops. Boom, boom, boom,” Jared said. “If you get those factors and higher, they’ll love that all day long.”
With that in mind, Jared is working to develop a roughly 90-acre retail and office district south and west of the James River Commons, home to Sam’s Club, Academy Sports and Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market.
Across the street from James River Commons – and just south of the city’s ninth busiest intersection at Campbell and Republic Road – a dozen or so businesses including Einstein Bagels, Famous Dave’s and Andy’s Frozen Custard have moved in since Sam’s Club opened in 2009.
While Jared declined to compare lease rates between specific properties, he said tenants blocks away from each other can often pay very different rates. On the northwest side, he said retailers north of Kearney Street on Kansas Expressway can pay dollars more per square foot than those on Kearney east or west of Kansas. At the Super Center Plaza, 2725 N. Kansas Expressway, lease rates range from $12-$16 per square foot, according to LoopNet.com, well above the averages for the northwest quadrant of the city.
“That’s an entryway into Springfield,” Jared said of North Kansas. “Everybody wants to be there.”
That principle rings true across town. According to Loopnet.com, the 5,000-square-foot Shoney’s restaurant at Battlefield Road and National Avenue – the fourth busiest intersection in town – is available for lease at $19.20 per square foot. Less than a half-mile away from National, the 2,000-square-foot Back Yard Burgers site is listed for $14.86 per square foot.
CJR Commercial agent Skip Liebman has recognized the trend around Battlefield Mall, where lease rates are about twice as high as the Brentwood Center across the street.
“It’s no exact science,” Liebman said, noting pedestrian traffic can have as much influence on commercial rates as vehicle traffic.
“If you took the vehicles per day on South Campbell and compared them to vehicle traffic on South Kimbrough, there’d be a huge discrepancy. But what makes up for that is that Kimbrough is near Missouri State University,” Liebman said, adding MSU is a huge pedestrian-traffic generator.
The 10-year commercial agent said the Republic Road corridor is a hotbed of activity, as is National Avenue south of James River Freeway. Liebman said similar properties are often $3-$4 per square foot higher on Republic Road or south of Republic compared to Battlefield Road or farther north.
Counting carsBehind the scenes are those who compile the numbers.
City traffic engineer Martin Gugel said traffic counts are collected throughout the city over a period of years. The city uses tube counters, video equipment and metal plates with magnetic sensors that screw into the pavement, and he said counts take place over multiple days to get a representative average. Gugel, a seven-year veteran with the city, said traffic and accident numbers tend to follow where development occurs.
“Right now, with the growth of Christian County, and the continued growth of the Battlefield, Glenstone and Campbell corridors, that’s where the heavy traffic is focused,” he said.
An anomaly is the Battlefield Mall area.
Gugel said the mall is a key traffic generator, even though the Battlefield and Glenstone intersection’s traffic count of 53,213 is just outside the top 10 busiest intersections. With so many retail options surrounding the mall, he said much of the traffic tends to be siphoned away.
Glenstone and Sunshine can boast of the heaviest traffic in town, but Jared said it’s not necessarily a destination as much as a place conveniently between other traffic generators such as Bass Pro and the mall.
As for Jared’s retail and office district plans adjacent to James River Commons, he said the area meets the requirements of the ‘five-fives.’ After the holidays, he expects retailers to take a closer look at the site.
“This is a multiyear project,” Jared said. “It’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon.”
